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Celebrity backing for Travel Bookshop
An iconic bookshop facing closure has had support from all corners of the globe to try and keep it open.
Since it was put up for sale in May, no buyer has been found for the Travel Bookshop in Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill, and it is now due to close in early September.
But last week, a campaign was launched to save the store, which was made famous by Hugh Grant in the film Notting Hill, by writer Olivia Cole, who said she would work in the shop for free if a buyer could be found.
As word of the closure spread across the internet, she has received dozens of offers from people to work for free, or pledging their support for the campaign, including from some famous faces.
On Twitter, actor Alec Baldwin who starred in Notting Hill as Julia Roberts' boyfriend, said: "Sad news 4 everyone's favourite bookshop from Notting Hill. Save the Travel Book Shop!!!"
He also included a link to the Chronicle's exclusive last week on the launch of the campaign.
Offers of help have come from as far away as California, Italy and Japan, with one American woman offering to get on a plane to come over every week and volunteer in the shop.
Ms Cole said: "The response has been incredible, and just goes to show how important this campaign is.
"The Travel Bookshop is such an iconic place - it is really important that we do what we can to save it.
"I have loved the travel bookshop for years, using it whenever I'm going off on a trip, and perhaps even more enjoyably for browsing and daydreaming when I'm not. I will be extremely sad to see it go.
"If Hugh Grant or anyone else would like to buy the business, I'd happily work there for free one day a week, as a shop with a volunteer staff of poets and travel writers could be a real cultural draw."
The owner of the Travel Bookshop, which has been in Blenheim Crescent for 32 years, Simon Gaul, is currently in France, and could not be reached for comment.
But after 25 years, he decided to put the shop on the market as his children were not interested in taking it on once he retires.
Most of the stock has now been sold off in a closing down sale, but there have been a few serious enquiries about the shop from potential buyers.
However, no firm bids had been made when the Chronicle went to press.
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